CMS and Portals

Fergal C

My question came to mind from reading Byte's CMS thread. As I didn't want to hijack it, I started a new thread.

I'd welcome any opinions as to whether I should use an open source portal system for the development of my site Proudirish.com.

What factors should I consider in deciding whether or not to use a portal system or indeed to decide which one to use?

Thanks,

corkie

I was about to ask you where is your site is hosted? but a tracert on your domain revealed that to me.

You have access to to php and mysql which you will need.

Looking at the code to your pages looks like you have developed the site with DreamWeaver.

Are you familiar at all with php/asp/perl script?

Based on your knowledge or lack there of will determine what CMS is going to suit you and your site's needs.

Have a read of some of earlier threads on CMS here on boards you will find links to sites that should help you in choosing a CMS.
Tip: Search for 'Content Management'

Here is a link to a tutorial on CMS that might be of interest to you.

OR

"try out" some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world by visiting here .

Fergal C

Thanks for response Corkie. I'll check out the links later, the opensourcecms site looks like a great resource.

Looking at the code to your pages looks like you have developed the site with DreamWeaver.

Correct.

Are you familiar at all with php/asp/perl script?

Unfortunately my knowledge just extends to a basic understanding of HTML and building static sites with DMX. I would however, consider contracting out some development. Provided the overall cost was not too high.

Alternatively I'll continue to develop the site with my own knowledge of DMX and contract out the more complex bits.

Thanks again,

byte

From looking at your site, you don't seem to use a dedicated forum so perhaps Mambo would be ideal?

I am currently trying to implement PostNuke as best I can, though it's not without it's problems.

Mambo Demo

tomED

we use Typo3 a lot for clients with a small to medium budget. IMO it's the only open source CMS that can compete with some of the expensive commercial products.

You could have your current site up and running on it in a day, with a lot of extra features if you needed them! There's a large resource of extra modules that you can plug into the system with ease.

The biggest problem with Typo3 is that it's a huge learning curve to get your head around it. All I would say to anyone attempting to use it is to forget everything they have already learned about programming and other CMS's.

Once you get to grips with it, it's really hard to change to anything else - because this basically does everything. There is also a new release of it due soon which will have added features and a lot of the old bugs cleared out.

PHPBB can be integrated it with it, although I suggested running it seperately.

We have installed at least 12 sites now with this and have had no problems, no matter how silly the clients requests!